ICCC houses its entire range of handcrafted collections within its showroom, including its most recent collection, the Salwa Collection. “Salwa Collection” is the Council’s first edition of games line inspired by the UAE’s heritage. The collection of Emirati handcrafted dolls, doll house, ‘Teela’ and ‘Domino’ made a debut at the showroom along with other collector pieces from Irthi’s rich crafts repertoire.
Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council and Dumye’s collaboration of handmade dolls makes a debut along with the rest of Irthi’s Salwa Collection. Dumye is a homegrown brand led by mompreneur Sahar Wahbeh and other likeminded female champions of traditional crafts. Irthi’s Talli artisans mark the inspiration of this collection, and thus the three dolls within the collection are a tribute to the artisans’ talents and the positive impact they have had on UAE’s culture.The trio of Talli-crafted dolls, which have been given female Emirati names like Sa’afah, Raffeia and Moza, are the outcome of the design collaboration. Designed by Dumye and handcrafted by female artisans from Irthi’s Bidwa Social Development Programme (Bidwa), the handmade dolls are the centrepiece of the Salwa collection and have been created to popularise local crafts amongst members of community, particularly the younger generations.
Also featured within the Salwa collection are innovative interpretations of the ‘Teela’ and ‘Domino’ games, which have always been of great interest to the nation’s young generations. These games have been expertly produced between Studio Lel in Pakistan and the UAE, merging woodworks with marble.
On April 25, ICCC organised a private tour of the newly opened showroom for connoisseurs of traditional crafts. The next day, the showroom was visited by several cultural enthusiasts and craft lovers from across the nation.
Underlining that the key reason behind launching the showroom was to bolster the Council’s efforts to preserve and promote the nation’s crafts heritage by bringing it closer to community, Reem BinKaram, Director of NAMA, said: “Realising the vision of HH Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of HH the Ruler of Sharjah, and Chairperson of NAMA, Irthi has been working dedicatedly to preserve the artisanal skills and rich cultural heritage of the UAE for current and future generations. We do this not only by training and empowering local craftswomen, but also by creating new opportunities and platforms for their talent and their output to be showcased. The Irthi showroom has been unveiled to further these objectives, and I’m delighted to see the initial response we received from collectors and the general public.”
The ICCC showroom opening in Sharjah came about as a permanent and final location to the ‘Irthi Majlis’ after a 12 day Majlis Popup of the Council at D3 earlier this month. ‘Irthi Majlis’ – an Emirati-inspired Ramadan Majlis in Dubai Design District (D3) catered to engaging the community through a 12-day event, which concluded on April 23. ‘Irthi Majlis’ provided visitors hands-on learning experiences through a screening of ICCC’s artisan documentaries, a chance to engage in a variety of Emirati games and enrol in Hirfati Youth Programme’s workshops.
A key highlight of the Irthi Majlis was the Talli inspired Suhoor edibles, merging Emirati craft, flora, and culinary art through a 10m long tablescape. The artistic collaboration between ICCC and designer, Anoud Al Zaben, is a modern tribute to the brightly coloured thread work patterns of Talli, resulting in a vibrantly coloured mosaic of different varieties of dates and dried fruits, anchored in indigenous flora.
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